The Philippines has sounded Japan out on the possibility of evacuating tens of thousands of Filipinos in South Korea to Japan in case of an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula, an official said Friday.

Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of President Benigno Aquino, told a news briefing at the Presidential Palace that part of the government’s contingency plan is to evacuate the country’s nearly 60,000 nationals in South Korea to the ‘‘nearest’’ safe place, which is Japan.